Bronze Age (3,500 yrs. ago) Masterpiece found

[packman]

After over a year of cleaning, researchers have uncovered an intricately carved gem: an agate sealstone, used for stamping an image onto clay or wax, that researchers have hailed as "one of the finest works of prehistoric Greek art ever discovered."



What is fascinating is that the representation of the human body is at a level of detail and musculature that one doesn't find again until the classical period of Greek art 1,000 years later," said researcher Jack Davis of the University of Cincinnati.



Amazing craftsmanship- more at:

https://www.sciencealert.com/bronze-age-greek-sealstone-pylos-combat-griffin-warrior-art-history?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+sciencealert-latestnews+%28ScienceAlert-Latest%29

[GeorgeGist]

1. Aliens

[democratisphere]

29. Yep. Very Ancient Aliens.

[dlk]

2. Gorgeous!

[niyad]

3. beautiful--thank you for sharing!!

[Yavin4]

4. Man, dudes were ripped back then.

Must've been some awesome physical trainers.

[ChazInAz]

7. Out of necessity!

Most people walked wherever they were going: only a few rode horses. Take a look at some classical sculptures and you'll see some massive thighs and tusches even on the ladies. ALL work was hand work, and warfare was hand-to-hand, with the occasional bit of spear-chuckery and archery tossed in for variety's sake.
Tough life, back then. I wouldn't have lasted a day!

[Yavin4]

13. Yeah, but your body would have been awesome.

You gotta pay a trainer a ton of cash to look that good.

[mdbl]

17. no processed sugar and soft drinks back then

Last edited Sat Nov 11, 2017, 08:27 PM - Edit history (1)

[Volaris]

23. Yep when I stopped drinking sugar I lost about 45 pounds in about 60 days.

[left-of-center2012]

28. They didn't have my mother cooking for them

She used a ton of lard.

[hibbing]

5. Wow, amazing!

Thanks for posting this, always love this stuff.


Peace

[DFW]

6. Shows an unreal degree of sophistication

And agate can be very brittle, so this took some kind of expertise

[bluestarone]

8. any thoughts on HOW this was done?

what tools back then could possibly do this?

[packman]

12. That's the thing

Detail (see article, esp. the close-up shot of the spear-guys face) is AMAZING. This type of detail that small was thought impossible that early in any artwork, let alone done in stone.

[Berlin Expat]

15. I wonder if the artist

was a highly specialized engraver who was very myopic and astigmatic, like myself.

I enjoy building model kits and one advantage of my myopia/astigmatism is that I can hold small pieces very, very close to my eye and paint them. My field of vision is less than 3.5 inches without glasses or contacts.

That could account for the incredible level of detail. I understand, though I don't know if it's true, that Carl Faberge employed people with severe myopia and astigmatism for creating the level of detail found in some of those eggs he made for the Russian Royal Family.

[defacto7]

27. Fascinating

That would certainly account for not having optical enhancements. No magnifying glass .

[jmowreader]

22. What tools they used are the least of our worries

https://news.artnet.com/art-world/griffin-warrior-tomb-pylos-combat-agate-1142624

The entire object is an inch and a half wide. How you could see to create in that kind of detail is my question.

[petronius]

9. Looks like the old spear-behind-the-back trick didn't

work out too well for the guy on the right. And probably not a good idea to wear a helmet with a built-in handle...

Fantastic artwork!

[benld74]

10. Wow

[Nitram]

11. Wow!

[lillypaddle]

14. Shared on twitter

That is other worldly. Absolutely beautiful. Thanks.

[zanana1]

16. This is amazing.

I love things like this; please keep posting!

[WinkyDink]

18. In the drawing, the face on the right looks backwards from the actual carving.

[packman]

19. Note what is going on - Head twist

the warrior on the left grabbed the "handle" of the other's helmet , pulled it back and around (effectively making him ineffective) and is in the process of giving him a thrust with his sword thru the guy's upper chest.
LESSON- Never wear a handle on your helmet that is firmly attached to your head.

[WinkyDink]

20. Haha! "Face-mask penalty! Fifteen yards!" Or, you know, death!

[Hestia]

21. Ah, Minoan, that explains a lot. Read about Knossos and the art discovered there.

It has been said that Knossos and Minoans were the seed of the Atlantean stories. Knossos was destroyed by the volcano on Santarini/Thera.

[packman]

36. Indeed , I read somewhere

that if Knossos and the Minoans hadn't been destroyed by the Santarini volcano, civilization would have been 1,000 years more advanced than it is today. Something to ponder.

[mr_lebowski]

24. I gotta ask ... how sure are they that it is real (or not from 1000 years later)?

Generally speaking it's pretty rare to discover pieces of antiquity that are 1,000 years older than anything else that approaches their level of sophistication, esp. when it's only around 2,000 years ago.

I'm betting it'll eventually be discovered that the piece is not actually as old as they're positing at the moment. Maybe even a total mistake and it's actually only 50 years old or something.

I mean, why take the time to give the piece the sort of 'shine' it has if it's actual purpose was as a 'stamp'? You'd never convey the shine onto wax, so ... why do it?

I'm finding this story a bit far-fetched, forgive me.

Then again, maybe those that put out the photo have taken some serious liberties with Photoshop. Also possible ...

[blogslut]

35. Perhaps.

I would imagine the "shine" comes from the curators cleaning it up and wanting to make it look nice for the photographs. As you say, when embedded into wax, the shine would not come through but, from my experience working with stamps, the cleaner and smoother the stamp, the better the impression.

[Hestia]

37. I have a friend who studies this type of thing - actual age of civilization and history of humans

on earth.

It is quite conceivable that the stamp is as old as they think and probably older. There are items that don't fit the timeline in museums and colleges all over the world put back and forgotten, until someone goes to clear out the old boxes.

She and her study group figures the history of humanity is much, much than any of us believe or were taught. There is a dense book called Forbidden Archaeology that gets into some of that. It's by the same author of Devolution and how our knowledge is actually going backwards instead of forwards. I wonder if time has actually stood still, along with this point; other ways, it has really sped up, giving us no time to think of the Unintended Consequences, e.g. 45.

Wisdom with knowledge would probably be a better way of putting it.

[keithbvadu2]

25. Just a rock... might make a good skipping stone.

Just a rock... might make a good skipping stone.

But experience told them to look deeper.

[MLAA]

26. Exquisite

[GeoWilliam750]

30. Wow!!!

[Beartracks]

31. That. Is. Incredible.

========

[NJCher]

32. no doubt the artistry is amazing

It's just sad that it is about humans killing humans. That's our legacy and we sure have lived up to it.

[shenmue]

33. Wowsers

[Laffy Kat]

34. Wonder what will happen to it?

IMO, it should be on display somewhere and not sold to a collector. That said, wonder what it would go for?